On operational and optimal iconicity in Peirce's diagrammatology
Abstract
Two different concepts of iconicity compete in Peirce's diagrammatical logic. One is articulated in his general reflections on the role of diagrams in thought, in what could be termed his diagrammatology — the other is articulated in his construction of Existential Graphs as an iconic system for representing logic. One is operational and defines iconicity in terms of which information may be derived from a given diagram or diagram system — the other has stronger demands on iconicity, adding to the operational criterion a demand for as high a degree of similarity as possible and may be termed optimal iconicity. Peirce himself does not clearly distinguish these two iconicity notions, a fact that has caused some confusion. By isolating them, we get a clearer and more refined conceptual apparatus for analyzing iconic signs, from pictures to logic.
This paper investigates the two iconicity notions and addresses some of the problems they involve.
© 2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: Diagrammatical reasoning and Peircean logic representations
- Images, diagrams, and narratives: Charles S. Peirce's epistemological theory of mental diagrams
- The fine structure of Peircean ligatures and lines of identity
- When is a bunch of marks on paper a diagram? Diagrams as homomorphic representations
- Ligatures in Peirce's existential graphs
- Iconic thought and diagrammatical scripture: Peirce and the Leibnizian tradition
- Linear notation for existential graphs
- Peircean Algebraic Logic and Peirce's Reduction Thesis
- Remarks on the iconicity and interpretation of existential graphs
- Cognitive conditions of diagrammatic reasoning
- External diagrammatization and iconic brain co-evolution
- Computers as medium for mathematical writing
- Peircean diagrams of time
- Space, complementarity, and “diagrammatic reasoning”
- Diagrams, iconicity, and abductive discovery
- Moving pictures of thought II: Graphs, games, and pragmaticism's proof
- Peirce's alpha graphs and propositional languages
- Peirce's tutorial on existential graphs
- On operational and optimal iconicity in Peirce's diagrammatology
- Existential graphs and proofs of pragmaticism
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: Diagrammatical reasoning and Peircean logic representations
- Images, diagrams, and narratives: Charles S. Peirce's epistemological theory of mental diagrams
- The fine structure of Peircean ligatures and lines of identity
- When is a bunch of marks on paper a diagram? Diagrams as homomorphic representations
- Ligatures in Peirce's existential graphs
- Iconic thought and diagrammatical scripture: Peirce and the Leibnizian tradition
- Linear notation for existential graphs
- Peircean Algebraic Logic and Peirce's Reduction Thesis
- Remarks on the iconicity and interpretation of existential graphs
- Cognitive conditions of diagrammatic reasoning
- External diagrammatization and iconic brain co-evolution
- Computers as medium for mathematical writing
- Peircean diagrams of time
- Space, complementarity, and “diagrammatic reasoning”
- Diagrams, iconicity, and abductive discovery
- Moving pictures of thought II: Graphs, games, and pragmaticism's proof
- Peirce's alpha graphs and propositional languages
- Peirce's tutorial on existential graphs
- On operational and optimal iconicity in Peirce's diagrammatology
- Existential graphs and proofs of pragmaticism
